The Unbearable Rudeness of Being
About the whole comments thing,... I will keep comments open unless it's a post where I just really can't deal with comments. There are sometimes when I need to vent or wail and it's all just a little too close to the surface.
And my comments sometimes leave you in a bit of a catch-22. If you send sympathy, I feel like I've been whoring myself a little. If you tell me to just get a grip, I feel like you're a nasty, heartless little piece of work. If you tell me about what you've been through (the 'ol empathy play), I want to scream "it's about me, it's all about me." So really, there isn't much room to maneuver in my comments sometimes.
But, I did NOT close them down due to anyone's comments in the past. I apologize if anyone had that impression - I generally do like the comments. Actually, I'm more comfortable with those who comment then those who don't. There are a few people who stalk my blog but never comment and it just feels sort of weird. Kind of like I'm throwing a cocktail party and every once in a while, there is a blur, a draft of air, and a couple of drinks go missing.
But the comments (for the most part) will be open once again. I just felt a 'way too rude leaving them closed. Especially as I started commenting on some of your blogs again but then wasn't allowing you to on mine - what a bitch eh?
So the students have begun to contact me. The general tenor is not that they deserve higher marks because of their performance but that they need higher marks in order to transfer or to meet prerequisite requirements. Which makes me wonder - do they actually understand the whole idea? That you actually have transfer and prerequisite requirements to screen students and that granting all of them a grade that at least meets the current requirements would only raise the required standard? It's not like other institutes would fail to recognize a bad student - or maybe they would look at the transcript and say, "well student X has failed all of our courses this term but last term he received a "B" from DinoD so obviously, we know nothing".
I actually have one student who failed the last two exams but still received a passing grade based on his performance on the first exam (hey, the final grade is just based on a formula - don't give me a bad time here). Anyway, he is upset that he only received a "C" - and he failed 2/3 of the course. Crap. More crap. What a craptastic job this is at times.
And so I sit here, holding the hoop up high and screaming "jump damn it, jump."
DinoD
About the whole comments thing,... I will keep comments open unless it's a post where I just really can't deal with comments. There are sometimes when I need to vent or wail and it's all just a little too close to the surface.
And my comments sometimes leave you in a bit of a catch-22. If you send sympathy, I feel like I've been whoring myself a little. If you tell me to just get a grip, I feel like you're a nasty, heartless little piece of work. If you tell me about what you've been through (the 'ol empathy play), I want to scream "it's about me, it's all about me." So really, there isn't much room to maneuver in my comments sometimes.
But, I did NOT close them down due to anyone's comments in the past. I apologize if anyone had that impression - I generally do like the comments. Actually, I'm more comfortable with those who comment then those who don't. There are a few people who stalk my blog but never comment and it just feels sort of weird. Kind of like I'm throwing a cocktail party and every once in a while, there is a blur, a draft of air, and a couple of drinks go missing.
But the comments (for the most part) will be open once again. I just felt a 'way too rude leaving them closed. Especially as I started commenting on some of your blogs again but then wasn't allowing you to on mine - what a bitch eh?
So the students have begun to contact me. The general tenor is not that they deserve higher marks because of their performance but that they need higher marks in order to transfer or to meet prerequisite requirements. Which makes me wonder - do they actually understand the whole idea? That you actually have transfer and prerequisite requirements to screen students and that granting all of them a grade that at least meets the current requirements would only raise the required standard? It's not like other institutes would fail to recognize a bad student - or maybe they would look at the transcript and say, "well student X has failed all of our courses this term but last term he received a "B" from DinoD so obviously, we know nothing".
I actually have one student who failed the last two exams but still received a passing grade based on his performance on the first exam (hey, the final grade is just based on a formula - don't give me a bad time here). Anyway, he is upset that he only received a "C" - and he failed 2/3 of the course. Crap. More crap. What a craptastic job this is at times.
And so I sit here, holding the hoop up high and screaming "jump damn it, jump."
DinoD
posted by DinosaurD at 9:19 AM
5 Comments:
I was just biding my time. I knew you'd miss me...erm, us!
Soooo...
Now that comments are open, I've got nothin'.
Whew. I felt very claustrophobic when I thought I wouldn't ever be able to comment again.
Because clearly it's all about me.
:)
(P.S. I'm very glad you're back.)
Okay first of all as a well hell stalker of you... I'm glad comments are back on.
Second - seriously your students the ones who well deserved to fail are idiots... or are of the "me generation" the me me me me me one. Very annoying. I can't wait to hear about the email you send to the student you passed who failed 2/3 of the course.
Somedays I'm glad I'm a nurse and definitely glad I'm not a teacher. Hearing of your trials with your students this summer makes me very glad I'm not a teacher.
Now go have a great day!
I read your post with great interest.
(No sympathy, no empathy, no get a grip, perfect!)
I swear, some students these days get grades for spelling there name right. Very annoying. Why did I do all that studying when I was in college then?
I knew you'd miss my comments so much you'd re-open them! as we're all well aware the blogosphere is all about Me and my wonderfulness..
It's reading posts like this one that makes me glad I never followed the teaching idea through to the end, I'm sure it's rewarding but how do you avoid wanting to smite the little trolls come results time? using the I word again here for a sec, reading a few teacher blogs has really opened my eyes to just how tough a job it is, I always had this pollyanna idea that it would be fairly easy what with all the holidays and all... don't smite me I've changed my mind on that score
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